Here’s a Clever idea. Build Moon Bases in Craters and then Fill them in with Lunar Regolith

As a spiritual successor to the International Space Station (ISS), this village would serve as a base for teams of astronauts to conduct vital research and experiments. In recent years, some very interesting proposals have been presented as part of this plan, the latest of which comes from the ESA’s European Astronaut Center (EAC), where a student team has developed a proposal for a sustainable lunar habitat.

The team leader is Angelus Chrysovalantis Alfatzis, an architectural engineering student in his final year of studies at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. He and his colleagues are just some of the many young researchers taking part in Spaceship EAC – an ESA initiative designed to promote networking and collaboration with universities and research institutions throughout Europe.

Alfatzis - Colleagues - Moon - Base - Concept

Alfatzis and his colleagues developed their moon base concept for the 2018 NewSpace2060 International Moon Pitch Competition, a joint initiative with the Moon Village Association, that took place in the Fall of 2018. Their entry was part of the Moon Village Architectural Concept and Issue category, where participants were encouraged to come up with ideas that would work with existing technology and knowledge of the Moon.

Alfatzis describes his architectural approach as “hyperlocal”, which leverages the concept of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) to create sustainable living solutions for extreme environments in remote places. As he explained his vision in a recent ESA press release:

Solutions - Accordance - Resources - Moment - Focus

“I always strive to find material and structural solutions in accordance with the resources available on-site. At the moment, my focus is on using unprocessed lunar soil for construction and the architectural applications of this.”

This focus is in keeping with the ESA’s goals for creating the International Lunar Village, which calls for the use of local resources to not only manufacture the base but also to see to the needs of its crew. Working...